Turning Pointe Read Free

helping me. I want to be packed before he gets here.”
    “Zed who?” She flashes me a brilliant smile and I roll my eyes at her. Zed’s seen me more of a disaster than this, but I try not to make it a habit. Same as we’ve always been.
    “I’m sure there’s somewhere to go shopping in Amsterdam, but if you’re really worried, stick a few extra clothes in Zed’s suitcase. You’ll be spending half your time with him anyways.” It’s the type of needling remark I’m so used to hearing I can’t be bothered to reply.
    My phone goes off and Zed’s picture pops up on the screen. I roll my eyes at Sakura, who smirks a bit as I answer. “Hey. Sorry, Sakura’s being Sakura. You don’t need to rush over here.”
    “Heard you were being Aly. I’m already on my way with dinner, but what’s the packing emergency?” I can hear the bus naming the streets as he rides it north from his South Philly house to my apartment in a ritzier area of town. “Pj’s and a few leotards. What else do you need?”
    “Tell me you packed more than pj’s and tights, Zed,” I say, putting down everything in my hands and staring at Sakura. Even she looks alarmed.
    “I think I packed a hoodie. Sometimes hotels are over-air-conditioned.”
    “Oh my God,” I say. “You’re such a guy. Go home and pack.”
    “I’m kidding, Aly. I’m packed. You should try taking a deep breath. Does wonders for one’s sense of humor. Should I stop for anything else before I come up?”
    “Alcohol?” I suggest, rolling a pair of warm-ups and tucking them into a pocket of my suitcase. “Alcohol. Lots of it. The kind that I can put in the tea that Sakura brought me.”
    “She’s a smart woman,” Zed says, and then the background noise changes. Outside my apartment, I hear the dinging of the bus’s doors opening. “Now let me up.”
    Sakura buzzes him in and he appears in my doorway a moment later, crystals of snow marking up his coat and his hair. He looks mischievous and silly with his duffels slung over his shoulder, holding a plastic bag that brings the smell of Chinese food wafting into my apartment. I bite back a smile. “You moving in?”
    “Kitten,” he drawls as he drops the bags on the floor and flops onto the couch next to Sakura. He holds out the plastic bag on a finger. “I thought you’d never ask.”
    “You can stay if you help her pack,” Sakura says, taking the food from him. “That’s the rule. If you distract her, I’m kicking you out.”
    “Hi,” Zed says, sticking out his hand. “My name’s Zed. I’m her best friend. Clearly we haven’t met before.”
    “Alright!” I cut in before the only two friends I have can start arguing over who has my best interests at heart. “Enough. Both of you.”
    Sakura heads for the kitchen. “What do you want to eat, Aly?”
    “She’ll eat anything if you put it on a plate for her,” Zed says, surveying the mess in front of him.
    “You’re bossy sometimes,” I tell him. “The lo mein, Sakura.”
    “You wound me,” Zed says, and then slides onto the floor to sit cross-legged between my piles of clothes and my suitcases. He picks out a couple of pairs of jeans, a few shirts and sweaters. He grabs a handful of underwear, which makes Sakura nearly miss a step as she comes back into the room, holding out plates of food. I lost any sense of modesty when it came to this guy a long time ago. He tosses it triumphantly on top of the leotards, tights, and warm-ups already in the suitcase and raises his hands in the air.
    “All hail the conquering hero!” He turns to Sakura. “She is decisive and sure-footed when it comes to ballet. Everything else? You have to be the decider.”
    “I think I should resent that,” I mutter, straightening everything Zed dumped in the suitcase.
    I zip it up as Sakura says, “Should I be taking notes?”
    “You can be the backup in case I’m not around,” Zed says. “Aly, eat those noodles before they get cold.”
    My eyes leap up to